Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo, which recorded annual sales of 4 trillion won from the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) new drug "Enhertu" (ingredient name trastuzumab deruxtecan), plans to invest $152 million (approximately 223.2 billion won) to build an Enhertu production facility in Shanghai, China.
According to the Korea Bio Association’s Bio Economy Research Center on the 27th, the ADC anticancer drug Enhertu was recently added to the list of health insurance reimbursement in China.
The National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) of China announced that 91 new drugs, including Enhertu, will be added to the national health insurance coverage starting next year, as seen in the "National Basic Medical Insurance, Industrial Injury Insurance, and Maternity Insurance Drug List." This is also the reason why Daiichi Sankyo is building an Enhertu production facility in China.
Daiichi Sankyo noted that this factory establishment is "an important milestone for entering China and reflects the company's long-term commitment to China," adding, "The establishment of an ADC manufacturing facility in China is a first for us, and the products will be for the Chinese market, with operations scheduled to begin in 2030."
ADC is an anticancer new drug made by consolidating antibodies that bind to specific target antigens on the surface of cancer cells and drugs with cell death functions using a linker.
Enhertu has expanded its indications since receiving initial approval for HER2-positive breast cancer in China in 2023, to include HER2-low expressing breast cancer, HER2-positive gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma, and HER2 mutation non-small cell lung cancer. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer's estimates for 2022, breast cancer is considered the second most common cancer among women in China, following lung cancer.
Developed jointly by Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca, Enhertu is an ADC therapeutic drug that consolidates a linker connecting an antibody with the same structure as trastuzumab to specific target proteins (receptors) that are overexpressed on the surface of cancer cells along with payload (drug). Last year, Enhertu sales reached $2.57 billion (approximately 3.78 trillion won), more than doubling compared to 2022's sales of $1.25 billion (approximately 1.84 trillion won).